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Cavemen squeeze by Warriors in 4-2 win

By Ben Gibson

Posted:
03/15/2013 11:15:13 PM MDT

Carlsbad s D ven Ortiz releases a pitch during the first inning of the Cavemen s 4-2 victory over the Santa Teresa Warriors. (Ben Gibson/Current-Argus)

CARLSBAD  Caleb Vannatter helped push the Cavemen passed the Santa Teresa Warriors with a triple and a run on a passed ball in the sixth inning for a 4-3 victory and a berth in the championship game of the Cavmen Classic.

Vannatter looked like he originally was pulling up at second base as coach Cody May held him up, but a bobble by the Warrior outfielder gave May the confidence to bring Vannatter over to third.

"We don't want to get our first or third out at third base. The fielder was at the ball before Caleb got to second, but he reached down and missed it so I sent him," May said. "After he missed it, I knew Caleb had good speed so I wasn't worried."

May had a good view of the entire play, but Vannatter had to rely on his coach to be his eyes.

"I was just looking at Coach May and he held me up, but once they bobbled it, he was calling me back," Vannatter said. "I didn't even see it; I was just looking at Coach the whole time."

That effort to get Vannatter to third put him in place to score when Santa Teresa pitcher Charlie Burciaga tossed a wild pitch into the backstop and opened the door for the go ahead run.

"I knew I was going to get there. It just felt good," Vannatter said.

Unlike many of the Cavemen's game this season, this one proved to be a bit more dramatic as the Warri-ors and Carlsbad exchanged the lead a couple of times before the Cavemen scored the go ahead run.

"We were expecting that. We can't get wrapped up in 10-run wins," May said.

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"When the game's over all that matters is that we're up 4-2 and we win the game."

It wasn't a 10-run victory, but the Cavemen wasted little time getting on the board in the first inning, with Zach Hinojos bouncing a double into left field to score Roman Gonsalez for a 1-0 lead.

Carlsbad looked to be on track for another run in the second inning when the first two batters made it to base, but Burciaga struck out three straight hitters to end the Cavemen threat and would strike out the next three batters he faced in the third.

The Cavemen s Zach Hinojos tries to hold back on a low pitch during Carlsbad s 4-2 victory over the Santa Teresa Warriors (Ben Gibson/Current-Argus)

In the fourth inning, the Warriors leveled the score with an RBI double lifted into left field by Alex Sedillo to score Carlos Ortiz. Santa Teresa added on another run when Michalel Armendariz dropped a single deep into right field to score Ethann Miester.

But the Cavemen answered back with a run of their own when a wild pitch opened the door for Austin Edwards to sprint home to level the score at 2-2 at the end of the fourth.

After a quick and scoreless fifth inning, Vannatter put Carlsbad back in the lead after leading off with a triple and then scoring on a wild pitch for a 3-2 Carlsbad advantage. Broc Landreth added on an insurance run for the Cavemen with a single to score Luke Hartert for a 4-2 lead.

Carlsbad held on for the win and advances to the championship game to face Lubbock Christian at 6 p.m. today (March 16) in Carlsbad.

Carlsbad s Austin Edwards dives back safely to first base after the ball comes out of Santa Teresa first baseman Ethann Meister s glove. Edwards advanced to second base on the play. (Ben Gibson/Current-Argus)